Morris, Lewis, 1726–98, American political leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Morrisania, N.Y. (now part of the Bronx); elder half-brother of Gouverneur Morris. A wealthy landowner and third lord of the manor of Morrisania after 1762, he was prominent among the opponents of British policies and was influential in promoting the provincial convention of New York (1775) and in the Continental Congress (1775–77). After the war he restored his estate at Morrisania, which had been burned and plundered by the British. He continued to be prominent in New York affairs.
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